During the operation of a wind turbine defects can occur. To keep maintenance costs as low as possible, it is important for defective components to be easily accessible and able to be replaced in a simple manner. In the wind turbines known from the prior art, the disassembly of the generator in particular is difficult.
From the document EP 0811764 B1 a wind turbine is known, in which a machine support serves for the attachment of a transmission and a generator. In this case the transmission and the generator are on opposite sides of the machine support. In addition a housing of the generator with a stator is fixed onto the machine support.
A sun gear shaft serves as the output shaft of the transmission. This passes through the machine support into the generator. A rotor of the generator is mounted on a tubular support structure fixed to the machine support. The support structure is so arranged that the sun gear shaft extends through the support structure. The spline teeth and a sun gear connected integrally to the sun gear shaft are on opposite sides of the support structure.
Fixed on the support structure are the inner races of two bearings. Their outer races are fixed in a hollow shaft that surrounds the support structure. The hollow shaft is driven by the sun gear shaft by way of spline teeth. The hollow shaft serves as a pole wheel carrier.
To disassemble the generator, first its housing together with all the generator components fixed in the housing have to be removed. The now exposed rotor must be removed in order to access its bearing. Although part of the sun gear shaft is now accessible, the sun gear shaft cannot be taken off. For that purpose the transmission would have to be removed.